Chapter 1-5 Summary

In chapter one, Oskar Oskarsson and his teenage grandson, Ebbe are fishing in restricted Swedish waters when they get their fishing line hung on something in the ocean. While trying to get unhooked, the object begins to move then breaks the winch and the trawl. The winch hits Ebbe, killing him. While Oskarsson is trying to free his boat from what turns out to be a Soviet submarine, he loses most of his hand. Oskarsson is left holding his dead grandson when the patrol boats arrive asking him to leave the restricted waters.

In chapter two, Second Lieutenant Jan Helder is the Captain of a Whiskey Class submarine 184. Helder is called off the sub and told to report to the Chief Administrative Officer at staff headquarters in Leningrad at once. Helder is then sent to the SPETSNAZ by a man named...